How to avoid an airport diet disaster

Michelle Dudash, RD, is nationally recognized as an expert in teaching people how health and food can happily co-exist. Through her 18 years of food business experience as a Le Cordon Bleu certified chef having cooked at a five star rest...

Airport Diet Tricks

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, bringing the weekend with the most passengers in the friendly skies. While running through the airport, save the splurging for turkey day to help stay on track and beat the bloat the rest of the travel season long.

1. Avoid Cinna-Big-Buns

Gigantic iced cinnamon roll

880 calories

17 grams saturated fat

830 milligrams sodium

2 grams fiber

59 grams sugar

INSTEAD: Start your day off with this...

Cinnamon raisin bagel with packet of cream cheese

450 calories

5.5 grams fat

700 milligrams sodium

5 grams fiber

According to Dr. Jo, professional speaker and author of the forthcoming book, "Eat Out Healthy", the average woman needs between 1500-2500 calories per day, making this bagel a reasonable choice for breakfast. "Since fiber is filling, those looking to maintain a healthy weight, especially, should aim for 25 to 35 grams daily."

2. Avoid a Cup of Badunkadunk

16 ounce frozen blended chocolaty coffee drink

500 calories

98 grams of sugar

INSTEAD: Ask for one of these...

"Due to new airport regulations, we can no longer carry fluids past the security area, putting us at the mercy of super-sized, sugary drinks," Dr. Jo warns. Bringing an empty water bottle with you and filling it with filtered water from a soda fountain as soon as you get through security is a good plan for staying hydrated.

3. Ditch the Personal Love Handles

Personal pan pepperoni pizza

720 calories

8 grams saturated fat

1680 milligrams sodium

INSTEAD: Satisfy your craving for a warm and toasty lunch with this...

4. Muffin Top

Rise and shine with this, instead...

When reaching for a grab and go parfait, be sure to read the label, since, most other brands, according to Dr. Jo, "are huge and include lots of high calorie granola."

5. Extra LBs

Quarter pound cheeseburger value meal

1200 calories

14.5 grams saturated fat

1460 mg sodium

8 grams fiber

95 grams sugar

INSTEAD: Scale things down with this...

Regular cheeseburger, side salad with dressing, small diet cola

420 calories

7 grams saturated fat

1310 mg sodium

3 grams fiber

11 grams sugar

Ordering a la carte can save you big in calories since the large portions of restaurant foods are too tempting. "Taking "half to go" isn't an option if you have a three hour flight to catch. For those members of the Clean Plate Club, it's critical to learn to leave food on the plate," says Dr. Jo. "Wasting food is better than "waisting" it."